This is very cool. Ditching the wort chiller is cool, I dont have to worry about oxygen on week 6 and UV is a non-issue.

I don't have any Sanke kegs, not likely to add one soon. It seems like with Cornies I might as well not modify the thing at all.

If I use a big short line and a picnic tap on the black port am I going to have any trouble running the sediment up the spear tube? Once I have clear beer in the short fat tube I can change to a black/black transfer tube and rack to another unmodified corny...

EDIT: If this works out good I will shorten the spear on one keg so I have a dedicated primary.

Thanks, I went back and followed all the links now that I am committed ;-)

This is very cool. Ditching the wort chiller is cool, I dont have to worry about oxygen on week 6 and UV is a non-issue.

I don't have any Sanke kegs, not likely to add one soon. It seems like with Cornies I might as well not modify the thing at all.

If I use a big short line and a picnic tap on the black port am I going to have any trouble running the sediment up the spear tube? Once I have clear beer in the short fat tube I can change to a black/black transfer tube and rack to another unmodified corny...

EDIT: If this works out good I will shorten the spear on one keg so I have a dedicated primary.

Whoa, you are ditching your wort chiller? I didn't read this. You need to chill as fast as possible to eliminate DMS from your brews before you pitch. You are on my same page as far as everything else you said. Chill, pitch, then seal and ferment.

Not just me, and that is the stigma...... They don't have a problem drinking it, just coming up with what they drank after they drank it. Whoa, you want me to pitch in $10 for the couple of beers I drank(at least 12).... LOL, you see my point. They have now started bitching about me pad locking the kegerator when I go to bed. I think someone said I was getting "butt hurt" over the whole beer deal. LOL, I told the last person that ask me for a beer to give me 10$ now and I would reserve a 12 pk for them the next time I brewed, he laughed and said he would just go to the liquor store. I said great, when it is ready and you want to drink some I will have you go to the liquor store and grab something similar so we can see. Why, does no one want to pay for home brewed beer? They would rather gripe about buying beer from the liquor store at a higher price. I hate people, lol. And I do drink a lot of beer all on my own, but mooching has ended now to preserve my kegs and my sanity.

Home for me is right next door to Durham, NC where the reservoir still only has about a 92 day supply of drinking water. And my wort chiller does not re-circulate.

So I strained my hot wort to my bottling bucket, stirred for whirlpool and then drained through the spigot into a sanitized corny that was full of CO2. Capped the keg, CO2 to 10psi, I am just waiting for it to cool down before I pitch. Not worried about infections, not one bit.

Yah, I left the cold break in the wort. But I saved a crap load of fresh water.

And I am with you on the "friends" who count to twelve 1-2. Quality Control samples is one thing, but ya got to do what ya got to do.

You can't get rid of DMS that way, you need to try to get your wort below 140*F as fast as possible. It is not infection that I would worry about. But, if you brew and it taste good then you have no problem... So. I am worried about DMS levels though, especially with pilsner malts.

Yes, the spunding valve is connected to a "T" with a pressure gauge and that "T" is then connected to a Sanke keg tap on the gas-in port. The little one-way gas check valve is removed before the spunding valve is connected to the tap. The other check valve on the tap in the beer-out port stay in place to prevent any beer pushed out of the keg during testing/tasting from going back into the keg. I connect a beer serving line and a picnic tap to the beer-out port on the Sanke tap.

As far as myriad of potential functions, 1). I use it to ferment under controlled pressure, 2). I use it to carbonate to an exact volume of CO2 required, 3). I use it to bleed pressure from my target keg when counter pressure transferring carbonated beer so it doesn't get foamy. If I could find a better and higher setting adjustable pressure relief valve and a higher reading pressure gauge, I could leave everything tapped the whole ferment and carbonation cycle. If I had to do mine all over again (which I will real soon), I would use a better adjustable back pressure relief valve like this one.
This one is McMasterCarr #99045K11 for $30.13, but can control .5-60 psi. I would also buy a better pressure gauge as this one was cheap and is already starting to corrode from the humidity in the lagerator. I am thinking something like this would work better.
It is a little pricey but won't corrode. McmasterCarr #4066K51 for $41.24 and the one I would need goes up to 60 psi which is way more than I will ever use since keg tap reliefs are set to blow at 50 psi. You could get away with just the pressure gauge and relieve any over pressure everyday, but I can tell you pressure builds up very quickly during fermentation and relieving it from much higher than your wanted 15 psi can cause a lot of mess. This seems expensive now, but I like not having to use as much CO2 from a bottle and I really love gadgets .

They do make 7.5 gallon Sankes (quarter). I haven't had any luck finding anything but 5.19 gallon 1/6 barrel kegs (sixtel) or your standard 15.5 gallon 1/2 barrel (half). A 7.5 would be perfect for a 5 gallon batch I would think.

I like being able to prep the primary weeks in advance of the brew day, this system has a lot to offer.

I am thinking session/keg beer can carbonate as it ferments. Recipes that need to age or be exchanged can use the regular blowoff/airlock on their way to a bottling bucket.

Plus I can use my old ale pale as an ice bucket to control my ferment temps while I primary in steel.

After the first recipe I made up myself sucked so bad, I bought several of the 'prize winning beer recipe' books, and I can't tell you how many times I have read the words "primary in steel".

The spunding valve is totally bonus to me. After everything else using a Corny as a primary has to offer, carb as I go session beer for a lousy $70 is gravy.

One of my cornies has a straight tube under the black post and a divot in the floor to match, so I can easily make spear tubes of different lengths for that one. This is just totally rocking.

And I can lager in these someday.

My plan is to max out the "corny as a primary" system while I am limited to the kitchen stove and 2.5gal AG batches. When I get a back yard and a turkey fryer I'll be looking for a 7.5g Sanke for primary to go with 5g AG batches.

PM/steep extract batches I can use to come up with max pri volume for a 5g corny. I'll be bumpng this thread again in a few weeks.